1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to an improved nut pick-up harvester which is towed behind a tractor, and powered by a power-take-off unit of the towing tractor. The nut harvester of this disclosure is used in orchards to pick-up nuts or other ground-laid agricultural crops for deposit into a harvest trailer towed by the harvester.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
A past art search was conducted at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to examine nut harvesters and pick-up machines similar to ours. None of the nut harvesters found in the patent search, or of the harvesters we are aware of in use in the field, including past art nut harvesters we have manufactured and sold, are as simply structured while offering comparable harvesting capabilities, energy efficiencies, and safety as the nut harvester of this disclosure.
The following past art references refer to harvesters we consider somewhat similar to our harvester. The references are further considered useful in exemplifying typical past art problems, and structural similarities and differences between our harvester, and harvesters of the past.
A U.S. Pat. No. 3,182,437, issued May 11, 1965 to L. Ramacher et al teaches a self-propelled "NUT HARVESTER". The Ramacher nut harvester utilizes a motor mounted to a wheel supported frame to propel the harvester through an orchard during harvesting. The motor is further utilized to power a plurality of crop pick-up and cleaning devices on the harvester. The Ramacher harvester is somewhat typical of many harvesters, having several long horizontally disposed drive chains and belts with support sprockets and pulleys used to transfer power from the frame mounted motor to the various crop pick-up and cleaning devices.
A U.S. Pat. No. 3,387,442, issued June 11, 1968 to J. A. Henson teaches a "NUT HARVESTING MACHINE". The harvester of this patent is a self-propelled vehicle having an engine mounted to the wheel supported frame thereof. This harvester again uses many drive chains, sprockets, and pulleys and belts to actuate the various movable components for harvesting. In addition to the belts and chains, this harvester also uses several gear containing differential units. The use of differential units and gear boxes is common to many past art nut harvesters.
A U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,657, issued Mar. 25, 1975 to Barry Ramacher et al teaches a "HARVESTER PICK-UP". This Ramacher harvester is primarily a self-propelled harvester having an operator's seat and steering wheel, although it is anticipated it could be towed by a tractor. The Ramacher harvester has an engine mounted to the wheel support frame to power the various brushes, chains, and the debris removal fan. Although the engine is apparently not clearly shown in relative placement to the other harvester components, the fan, rotary brushes and chains of the harvester are shown spaced apart from one another at oppositely disposed ends of the harvester. This harvester apparently also uses many long drive belts and chains to extend to and power the various rotatable components of the machine.
It should also be noted this particular Ramacher harvester utilizes a fan mounted off to one side of the harvester, with the fan supported by a fan support shaft which extends crosswise of the harvester. The fan is also mounted in very close proximity to the mixture of debris and nuts moving through the harvester. The positioning of this "off-center" and "close proximity" fan is typical of many past art harvesters, and in our opinion leads to much slower and less thorough debris removal, and a loss of valuable nuts. Nuts and debris are usually moved through the center length of a harvester on cleated and usually apertured belts or chain conveyors. With the use of an off-center fan, is it very difficult to supply an evenly distributed level of suction or air pressure against the mixture of nuts and debris in a debris removal chamber.